I just got off the phone with a friend who really does not know much about web design and we got him set up with a WordPress blog in 5 simple steps. After talking with him I decided to write a tutorial on how to set up a WordPress website. This tutorial will take about 15 minutes if you don’t count file transfer time (FTP).

What you will need:

• A FTP program like FileZilla (I use Dreamweaver and FileZilla)
• A web hosting company (Obviously… I use Media Temple)
• A Text editor (I use Dreamweaver but you can use anything)

What this Tutorial will accomplish:

• You will have a basic WordPress website running

Let’s get started…

Step #1. Download and unzip the latest version of WordPress (This tutorial uses v. 2.9) into a local folder on your computer (remember where you unzipped it to)

Step #2. Create a database on your server and take note of those settings. Most hosting companies provide help documents on how to do this. Its should be really simple.

Step #3. Open up this file: wp-config-sample.php and SAVE AS wp-config.php right off the bat. Then edit the lines of code that talk about your database. Remember those settings I said to keep handy. You will need them here.

//  MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host  //
// The name of the database for WordPress //
define('DB_NAME', 'put_your_database_name_here');
 
// MySQL database username //
define('DB_USER', 'user_name_here');
 
// MySQL database password //
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'your_password_here');
 
// MySQL hostname 99% chance you will not have to change this value.  Some hosting providers like mine require something different.  This is something that anyone at the hosting company will know.//
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

Down a little further you will see the Unique Keys. FILL THESE WITH UNIQUE CHARACTERS LIKE:
86dfg79835g6%^$R@!^7^Hn76h&*!@Yhnd*@^#8yem They should all be different from each other and help with the security of your blog. Please do not use the ones provided in these examples and make sure to keep the single quotes around each value.

define('AUTH_KEY', ':dr+%/5V4sAUG-gg%aS*v;&xGhd%{YKC^Z7KKGh j>k[.Nf$y7iGKdJ3c*[Kr5Bg');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'TufWOuA _.t>#+hA?^|3RfGTm>@*+S=8\"\'+\"}]<m#+}V)p:Qi?jXLq,<h\\`39m_(');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'S~AACm4h1;T^\"qW3_8Zv!Ji=y|)~5i63JI |Al[(<YS<2V^$T])=8Xh2a:b:}U_E');
define('NONCE_KEY', 'k1+EOc-&w?hG8j84>6L9v\"6C89NH?ui{*3\\(t09mumL/fFP_!K$JCEkLuy ={x{0');

For more security I like to change the table prefix from wp_ to something else.

// You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique table prefix
$table_prefix  = 'r235_';   // Only numbers, letters, and underscores please!

Step #4. Fire up your FTP program and upload all of the files including the 3 directories to your web server.  This is where a lot of your time will be spent.

Step #5. Open up your favorite web browser and type your site’s address in the address bar and add /wp-admin/install.php. i.e. www.exampleurl.com/wp-admin/install.php or www.exampleulr.com/blog/wp-admin/install.php if you place WordPress in another directory like blog. Fill in the simple info WordPress asks for and your good to go!

That’s it!  You have now set up your first WordPress site.